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A couple of months ago I went along to my usual Boots pharmacy to purchase my Mitchum SmartStick deodorant, a product that I have been using for a few years now having been literally burnt by overly perfumed products that either make body odour smell worse or try to mask it with something cheap and synthetic like a lot of aero-tinned room sprays! The ones designed for men to attract the opposite sex often attract lumps under my arms and are very painful. I haven't bought a man's product range for quite some time now because of the fear of searing pain under my arms and the dry skin that follows afterwards. After buying a new product by Mitchum called "Endurance," that is anything but (and still to appear online) I ended up returning to the same pharmacy and trying a new product by Nivea for Men called "Silver Protect," 24 hour roll on deodorant. Compared to what I'm used to in the chalky, soft and smooth roll on stick Mitchum usually sell, this product by Nivea for Men travels back in time to the standard liquid assisted plastic ball roll on design, and from first use to continual use continually reminds me of how mass brands do things differently - as well as of course, being wet from the moment it is rolled on!

The Price, The Product & The Promise

But before you look away from that aspect, yes, whilst "Silver Protect" is a wet application roll on, it initially only cost me £1.05 for the 50ml product and is so handy in size, I did think about buying two of the same products at the time just for the fact that it is so cheap! However the experience of buying cheap has memories of wasting money and in an age of recession where everything is becoming so expensive to buy, I did wonder how much this product would actually cost after the initial trial period.

Come January 2012 and the price has now hiked up to £2-03 – but this is a price that I still feel is pretty cheap against Mitchum’s own wet roller-ball sticks and similar men’s brands that usually command a price of £2-97 and upwards! Unlike the "Sure" products on the same shelf, I was surprised
to see such a cheap price on the basis that this is also a glass bottle with a plastic top against Sure's all soft & glossy all-plastic products.

Ranges & Claims

The Nivea for Men "Silver Protect" range at the moment, comes in 4 different products like a shower gel, spray deodorants (available in "Polar Blue," fragrance marked by its silvery blue tins against the chrome/brushed stainless steel appearance of the original) and the roll on product I have looks like a sex toy at worst thanks to its domed silver pull of top, and at best a bullet with a clean and clear bottom thick glass bottle with a clear labelling transfer with tacky silvery stripes that adorn each side.

At least the product does stand up to the initial claims - it is a clear product, alcohol free (at last!) and has no colour added. Nivea also claims the product gives 24-hour confidence (marked by the fact that it has"24" in a little silver circle displayed on the front of the bottle) and has an antibacterial additive such as Silver Ions added to inspire freshness and help to fight body odour as well as being dermatologically approved.

The use of "Silver Ions," is probably a marketing ploy - certainly it can't be seen in the clear glass bottle, but the only other brand I can think of who have tried the scientific approach with silver ion coatings is Hoover, who claim that the stuff is used to coat their filters on board of some of their vacuums to make it antibacterial friendly. I'm sure given the chance, many people with a hygiene issue would love this product; they go mad for products that have "antibacterial" emblazoned across them, whilst I don't go in for the marketing - I was just intrigued to see why this product was cheap, sitting right next to a Sure product claiming to do just the same, but stank strongly of Old Spice!

Scent/Performance/Results

In use, I was really surprised to find that "Silver Protect" roll on only takes seconds for this product to dry up and with it being a clear water based liquid, no staining worries. The liquid doesn't feel oily, but rather just like water, almost like the feeling of just coming out of a shower with no additional cooling effects that some other roll-ons have. It was disconcerting at first because it has been many years since I have used a roll on of this type with a roller ball top and although not available at the time in a roll on type, I can confirm that the "Polar Blue," spray has a peppermint smell, with hints of melon in the undertones. Here the good news is that this roll on deodorant has a much weaker, understated fragrance of men's "general" cologne. The scent isn't very strong though and certainly has aspects of cedar, musk and sweet pepper.

Once applied, "Nivea For Men Silver Protect," doesn't sting me and I'd say that the claim of no alcohol additive is spot on and it only takes seconds to dry into my armpits, pretty much the same way as Mitchum's Smart Stick; soft and smooth feeling as if nothing has been added.

During the day, I can sometimes smell the light, peppery cedar fragrance whenever I'm doing things like lifting boxes, or even vacuuming - but the biggest surprise of this product is that it actually works! Put through the stages of gardening and taking old appliances to the dump, "Silver Protect," has really been put through the duration of building up sweat and the product does work over a 24-hour period without having to reapply. I was so amazed by the formula, I waited two days to see how long this product lasts - and it can last up to 48 hours dependent on the amount of work you put your body through! Afterwards, as I went to check my armpits - no sign of bad body odour - just the slight underlying scent of this product's fragrance.

Downsides

The only downsides to this product are few and far between. Since returning to the pharmacy from where I purchased my original bottle that lasted between 2 to 3 months, the spray version has yet to arrive next to it, even several months after purchase. Therefore, availability of this product may be a problem.

Secondly the roller ball can get stuck, but this is easy to fix just by giving it a roll with your finger, or screwing the cap back on the top and holding the bottle under a warm, running tap. This seems to unblock the roller ball, if any impurities have become embedded around the rubber ring that holds the ball in. Being water based, you can additionally wash the ball, but I’ve yet to do this in the time I’ve had both bottles.

Lastly, it is a pity however that this product is in an entirely made glass bottle – I’ve dropped it a couple of times on a vinyl bathroom floor – but I avoid taking it into a larger bathroom with a marble floor. Nivea for Men could rethink their strategy here, for safety aspects by making this product in a lighter, safer plastic bottle, making it handy for taking to the gym and such like.

Final Thoughts

I'm really impressed with this Nivea for Men "Silver Protect" roll-on because their products – both under the arm and by the hand when some products cost too much, have literally burnt me in the past – and I end up avoiding a lot of the products that Nivea for Men produce, as a result. At the same time, it is also good practice to change products every so often, so that the body doesn’t become used to the same deodorant all the time. The additional factor that I like about this roll-on is that it isn’t strong enough to take over any expensive aftershave or EDT I may wear as an extra and for the most part, seems to blend in well, thanks to its light peppery musk.

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